In his 14 years of public service, Arlington ISD school board member Aaron Reich experienced a property tax rate cut unlike any other this budget cycle.
Reich joined six other trustees in late September to approve the district鈥檚 lowest property tax rate in the last decade.
The reduced rate could influence the district鈥檚 debt management and cause trustees to increase the tax rate in the future, said Carla Martin, assistant superintendent of financial services.
The tax rate for the 2023-24 school year is $1.1156 per $100 of valuation 鈥� an almost 20-cent tax rate reduction. Arlington ISD鈥檚 2022-23 tax rate was set at $1.3087.
A taxpayer with the average home in Arlington ISD would save $1,068.80 under the new rate compared to last year鈥檚 rate. Voters still have to approve a proposed $100,000 homestead exemption on school taxes in the Nov. 7 election.
The new rate is more than 3 cents lower than the no-new-revenue rate, which would bring in the same amount of revenue as the previous year. The no-new-revenue rate was $1.1484.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 pretty significant,鈥� Reich said.
Like Arlington ISD, Nearby Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD
Legislators used nearly $12.6 billion of the state鈥檚 budget surplus to reduce property tax rates and offset the loss of property tax revenue. They did not provide additional new funding to schools.
Now, the school board and top administrators may have to adjust the timeline for issuing debt to pay for projects in the voter-approved $966 million bond program from 2019.
The bond was proposed when the district鈥檚 debt service rate 鈥� one of two figures that make the overall tax 鈥� was at 32.9 cents. It鈥檚 now fallen nearly 4 cents to 29.1 cents.
School board President Melody Fowler celebrated the decreased rate.
鈥淲e鈥檙e pleased any time we can lower the tax rate for our community,鈥� said Fowler. 鈥淭his is, clearly, good news for our taxpayers.鈥�
How does this affect my school taxes?
The average home in Arlington ISD has an of $304,191, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District. However, only $198,293 of the value is used for taxes.
The new homestead exemption allows property owners to take $100,000 off their home鈥檚 appraised value. The school district would then tax only $98,293 of a home鈥檚 value.
The average property tax bill to Arlington ISD would be $1,096.56 鈥� 49.4% lower than what the average homeowner paid in 2022.
Last year, the average home in Arlington ISD had an of $256,077 and only $205,459 was used for taxes. After a $40,000 homestead exemption, the school district taxed $165,459.
In 2022, that homeowner paid $2,165.36 in property taxes to Arlington ISD.
Matthew Sgroi is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy . Read more about our editorial independence policy .
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